benthos

[ ben-thos ]

noun

1. the biogeographic region that includes the bottom of a lake, sea, or ocean, and the littoral and supralittoral zones of the shore.

benthos

/ ˈbɛnθɒs /

noun

1. the animals and plants living at the bottom of a sea or lake
2. the bottom of a sea or lake

benthos

/ bĕn′thŏs′ /

1. The bottom of a sea or lake.
2. The organisms living on sea or lake bottoms. The benthos are divided into sessile organisms (those that are attached to the bottom or to objects on or near the bottom) and vagrant organisms (those that crawl or swim along the bottom).
3. Compare nektonSee more at epifauna

Derived Forms

• ˈbenthic, adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of benthos¹

1890–95; < Greek bénthos depth (of the sea); akin to bathos, bathy-

Word History and Origins

Origin of benthos¹

C19: from Greek: depth; related to bathus deep

Example Sentences

For example, off the Basque coast there has been a 0.23 °C increase in sea temperature per decade, compared with a global increase of 0.15 °C. Faced with this situation, the UPV/EHU's Marine Benthos Research Group explored how macroalgae communities in a coastal area off Biscay have been affected by warming.

From Science Daily

She belongs to the Marine Benthos Research Group, which studies the impacts of climate change and pollution on macroalgae communities.

From Science Daily

Thirteen months later, populations of these kinds of mobile deep sea dwellers, known as swimming benthos, had dropped by 43 percent in the mining location and 56 percent in adjacent areas surrounding the site.

From Salon

But they do know this: The brittle star has thousands of pig snouts on each arm, a veritable sty in the benthos.

From New York Times

The dominant feature in the plots rendered by acoustic queries into the benthos is still that dense, impenetrable cloud of the deep scattering layer.

From Scientific American